TROY, NY—For the first of two matchups this season, Rensselaer welcomed the University of Vermont to the Houston Fieldhouse Friday evening.

The Engineers would have to climb out of a hole early when UVM forward Steven Ushakov recorded his third goal of the season on a screened attempt from the slot just 28 seconds into the game. Seconds later, a Catamount high-sticking penalty would not lead to an RPI tally, but would allow them to shift the momentum back in their favor. Controlling the play, the Engineers would again find themselves a man-up midway through the first period. Moving along the blue line, freshman Tanner Richardson would look off a Catamount forward before dishing the puck to junior Teo Camadella. Picking up his head, Camadella threaded a pass through the UVM penalty kill unit to sophomore Kyle DeVault on the back door who one-timed home the equalizer, his third of the year. The Engineers were not done, as just two minutes later Camadella would catch a pass in stride from DeVault and consequently split two Catamount defenders before putting RPI ahead with a quick forehand-backhand move; his team-leading 6th goal of the season.

Despite a multitude of open net chances, it would be an entire 20 minutes before Rensselaer increased their lead to two. On a centering attempt, a Catamount forward threw the puck in the RPI slot. In defense, senior Ryan Streger tipped the pass up to fellow senior Connor Blake who then head-manned the puck to freshman Kevin Yun with room to skate. From the Engineers’ blue line, Yun carried the puck all the way into the Catamount zone before cutting inside on a defender and firing a shot past UVM netminder Brett Hatfield and into the top left corner.

RPI would continue to outshoot the Catamounts for the remainder of the game. Save just one tally by UVM’s Nate Wark that unluckily deflected off an Engineer’s stick, Rensselaer closed out the game to win by a score of 3-2. Hatfield turned away 26 of 29 RPI attempts, while sophomore Pat Engelsman posted a .905 save percentage on the way to his first win of the season.